October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month !

Hello everyone!

In Arizona, October is the breast cancer awarness month, an occasion to talk about this disease which can impact women's life when they experience it.

Since prevention is something important i would share this article with you all.

Let me know if any of you would have a discussion in disability room about it, i am available to host it and make a great one. Feel free to drop me a message!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, making it a good time to remind women to schedule their mammograms.

Early detection is key for effectively fighting breast cancer! The most important screening testing in early breast cancer detection is a mammogram. Mammography detects 90% of breast cancers in women that have no outward signs or symptoms. In addition to an improved outcome, some patients diagnosed with early-stage disease are candidates to have less aggressive surgery, can skip chemotherapy or radiation, or will receive a shorter course of breast cancer treatement.

Breast cancer does not represent one disease but, rather, many different and interrelated diseases all characterized by normal breast cells becoming cancerous breast cells. Although we do not know why most patients develop breast cancer, abnormal genes appear to play a key role in some patients and genetic testing has assumed a greater role in evaluating many newly diagnosed patients.

We can now identify several different subtypes of breast cancer which we recognize as key in formulating an effective breast cancer treatment plan. The vast majority of breast cancers are estrogen-dependent, meaning estrogen promotes the growth of malignant cells. The use of anti-estrogen drugs (hormonal therapy) represents one of the earliest and most successful forms of so-called targeted therapy and remains an important part of treatment for patients with estrogen-positive breast cancer. The goal of hormonal therapy is to reduce estrogen production and/or block estrogen, eliminating the fuel supply that causes cancer cells to divide and multiply. These drugs, many of them given orally, often with very few side effects, can be used to reduce the risk of recurrence after surgery.

(source Arizona Oncology)

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